Dec 12, 2018 3 min read

Valley Independent

There just are not enough of them – nor are there likely to be – to generate any strong precedent that former presidents and vice presidents of the U.S. become college teachers. But that worthy profession is in the future of both Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert H. Humphrey after they leave office next month.

Both are returning to a field they had been in before they started on political careers. Mr. Johnson has been a teacher in a small elementary school while Mr. Humphrey, who is also a trained pharmacist, had taught political science at MacAlester College in St. Paul.

Humphrey will divide his teaching time between MacAlester and the University of Minnesota. Johnson will conduct a seminar program in Texas to which he will invite top-level and ex-top-level government administrators as lecturers.

This use of the time, talents and experience of those who have “been there” is a good service to youth from retired political leaders. A chance for selected students to learn from men who have been all the way up the ladder of political success should have a lasting effect on anyone inquisitive enough to extract the fullest value from these men.

If these experiences turn out to be valuable for students it will be a better development in the college teaching field than the use being made, at some schools, of professional teachers with top reputations.

We are thinking of some universities where there is too much pressure for teachers to write and publish books and to speak outside the academic world. Students have been attracted to these schools by the opportunity to study with some of the biggest names in the nation. But then it has turned out that because of the zeal to lecture outside the university and the pressures of publishers’ deadlines, some of these men are seldom seen in the classrooms. For much of the school year classes may be conducted by lesser members of the faculty, sometimes by graduate assistants. Many of these may be potentially fine instructors but few are adequate substitutes for the big names that attract students to the school.

In some learning institutions a more realistic emphasis on teachers’ activities outside the classroom would be an advantage to students. The proper use of any men of experience also should add to the total knowledge of students. This is what people go – or should go – to college for.